Rajasthan govt will appeal to SC to direct Centre to float global tenders for COVID-19 vaccines: Raghu Sharma

Rajasthan Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma on Thursday said that the state government will appeal to the Supreme Court to direct the Government of India to issue global tenders and procure COVID-19 vaccines.

He said that COVID-19 vaccines allocated by the Centre will not be sufficient for the state.

"Global tender does not help much. Why should we buy vaccines at a higher price from abroad? For the Centre, it is Rs 150 but states have to pay Rs 300-400. Our government will appeal to the Supreme Court to direct the government of India to issue global tenders and procure vaccines, and we can bear its cost," Sharma told ANI.

The health minister said that the government has allotted 12.66 lakh vaccines for the month of June as it will not be possible to vaccinate 3.25 crore beneficiaries including second doses and wastage.

"For June, the government has allotted 12.66 lakh vaccines (both Serum Institue and Bharat Biotech). With this combined quota, it will not be possible to vaccinate 3.25 crore beneficiaries as double dose and wastage makes vaccine requirement nearly 7 crores," said Dr Sharma.

"We gave an advance of Rs 47 crores to Serum Institute of India (SII) and Rs 12 crores to Bharat Biotech, the former supplied us vaccines, but the latter did not come. Due to no vaccines, we have stopped vaccination. We will resume as and when we get vaccines," he added. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Rajasthan has 78,126 active coronavirus cases and reported 8,41,602 recoveries and 8,018 deaths.

( With inputs from ANI )

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